


One Step at a Time / Artless

by oneill



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Double Drabble, Drabble, Gen, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-02
Updated: 2013-09-02
Packaged: 2017-12-25 09:28:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/951467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneill/pseuds/oneill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the fic_promptly prompt: The World Ends With You, MtF!Shiki, "She was everything I wasn't."</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Step at a Time / Artless

**Author's Note:**

> Couldn't decide which of these to write, and couldn't figure out how to fit them both into a single comment fic.

**One Step at a Time**  
A glimpse of herself in a storefront window pulls her up short. No, not herself. Eri. And Shiki's miserable expression is alien on that pretty face.

Higashizawa was right about her: she's just traded one lie for another. She never really wanted a different body. She only wanted to feel at home in her own.

"Hey, stalker," Neku says, sounding a little awkward. "What'd you stop--"

"Please . . ." Shiki hugs her elbows. "My name is Shiki. OK?"

She hazards a glance back at Neku. He stares until she drops her gaze.

"OK," he says slowly. "Anyway, let's move. Timer's ticking, Shiki."

**Artless**  
 _Maybe you should stop pretending to be someone you're not._

Those had been the last words Eri said, before Shiki took off running. At the time, she felt certain she could never forgive them. Her resolve wavered now, though, seeing the look on Eri's face as she placed a handmade bouquet at the accident site.

"I should never have said that," Eri murmured, and for a second Shiki panicked, forgetting that Eri didn't have a pin, that Eri didn't even know she was there. "It's just . . . you always looked so miserable at school, and you always seemed so happy as Shiki, so I thought . . . maybe . . . Oh, no!" Eri laughed shakily as she brushed away a tear. "I'm doing it again, aren't I, Takuya? Sorry. I'm such a terrible friend!"

Shiki could only stand there, her mouth slightly open. "No," she said at last, wishing she could pull Eri into a hug. "I'm the one who should apologize. I should have trusted you more." Why did she always assume the worst? She crouched beside Eri, so their shoulders would have touched, had they both still been alive. "Don't worry, Eri. I'll come back. And I'll be _me_ this time, I promise."


End file.
